In This Review

Roots of Revolution: An Interpretive History of Modern Iran

The roots lie deep in Iran's history, although the revolution of 1978 had many immediate as well as underlying causes. In her narrative of political events Nikki Keddie, a scholar with impressive credentials on Iran, is more or less conventional. Where the history is interpretative is largely on the intellectual-cultural-religious side, and here it broadens the Western reader's understanding of why and how the revolution happened as it did.